the epson perfection v750-m pro ($799.99 direct) shares most of its traits with the epson perfection v700 photo. both claim an optical resolution of 6,400 pixels per inch (ppi); both deliver among the best-quality scans i've ever seen; and both cost enough to be of interest only to serious photographers, particularly those with a large library of negatives and slides to digitize. but where the target market for the v700 is the serious amateur photographer, the v750-m goes one step further, aiming at both serious amateurs and professionals.

the difference in emphasis shows in the v750-m's better optics, with an antireflective coating on the ccd lens and a high-reflectivity mirror. this gives the v750 better resolution than the v700 in terms of the ability to resolve detail, despite the same 6,400-ppi rating for both scanners.

the v750 also comes with an additional tool for removing scratchesa fluid-mount kit. both scanners include digital ice, which combines hardware and software to remove scratches digitally. but although digital ice works impressively well on color images, it doesn't do much for black-and-white film. that's where the fluid-mount kit comes in.

you've probably noticed that some scratcheson a polyurethaned wood floor, for exampledisappear when you wet the floor with a cleaning solution, only to reappear when the floor dries. if you took a photo of the floor when it was wet, however, you wouldn't see the scratch. the fluid-mount kit works much the same way. put the mounting solutionavailable from aztekon the mounting kit's glass plate, place the negative on the fluid to fill in the scratches, and put a few more drops on top of the film, a piece of mylar (also available from aztek) on top of that, and scan.

it took me three tries to learn how much fluid to use, but once i got the hang of it, the result was indeed noticeably better than with digital ice for scratches on a black-and-white negative. however, the mounting fluid is not user-friendly. epson warns that you should avoid letting it make contact with your skin or eyes, and use it only in a well-ventilated area. (another reason why the v750-m is best reserved for serious photographers.)

in most other ways, the v750-m is similar to the v700. it ships with the same five templates for eight different film formats35mm slides, 35mm strips of film, and 2.25-inch, 6- by 20-cm, 4- by 5-inch, 120, 220, and 8- by 10-inchand it uses the same familiar epson driver, with several modes: automatic; home (with controls for a few basic settings such as brightness); and professional (with controls for color balance, saturation, and tonal curve adjustments to bring out more detail in dark areas, for example). you also get a fourth choice: lasersoft's silverfast se ai version 6 scan utility, which offers even more sophisticated tools for things like adjusting color. all three modes in the epson driver offer automatic color restoration for faded images. the home and professional modes, as well as silverfast, support digital ice.

the v750-m lived up to its promise scanning our standard set of 35mm slides. at both our standard 2,400-ppi scan and the maximum 6,400 ppi, it not only resolved appropriate detail for the resolution, but did a visibly better job than the v700. it also did well on dynamic range, the ability to retain all the steps in shading from white to black. but on one particularly demanding slide, with a dark tree line against a light sky, it wasn't quite a match for the editors' choice canon canoscan 9950f. more precisely, it wasn't even close when using epson's own driver, but i got a much better result using silverfast combined with the bundled monaco ezcolor in a separate step after scanning.

the v750-m also did an excellent job with photographic prints, which is no surprise, given that slides demand a much higher resolution and dynamic range than prints need. and it did superbly on speed. i timed it at just 12 to 19 seconds to scan a 4-by-6 at 300 and 400 ppi, respectively, and roughly 35 seconds to scan one slide at 2,400 ppifar faster than either the v700 or canoscan 9950f.

when i reviewed the epson v700, i said that it didn't offer enough to replace the less expensive 4,800-ppi 9950f as editors' choice. but i also said that because of the higher resolution and the flexibility to scan film as large as 8-by-10, compared with only 4-by-5 for the 9950f, it might be your preferred scanner. much the same holds true for the epson perfection v750-m pro, only more so, as it offers the same flexibility as the v700 for film formats, even better resolution, and the fluid-mount kit as an extra tool in your arsenal for removing scratches.

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About the Author

M. David Stone is an award-winning freelance writer and computer industry consultant. Although a confirmed generalist, with writing credits on subjects as varied as ape language experiments, politics, quantum physics, and an overview of a top company in the gaming industry. David is also an expert in imaging technologies (including printers, moni... See Full Bio

Epson Perfection V750-M Pro

Epson Perfection V750-M Pro

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